Prognostic Values of Transforming Growth Factor-Beta Subtypes in Ovarian Cancer.

PURPOSE

To explore the potential role of the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-) subtypes in the prognosis of ovarian cancer patients. . The prognostic roles of individual TGF- subtypes in women with ovarian cancer were retrieved from the Kaplan-Meier plotter (KM plotter) database. In addition, the Oncomine database and immunohistochemistry were used to observe the mRNA and protein expression of TGF- subtypes between human ovarian carcinoma and normal ovarian samples, respectively.

RESULTS

TGF-1 and TGF-4 were totally uncorrelated with survival outcomes in women with ovarian cancer. Increased TGF-2 and TGF-3 mRNA expression was markedly related to unfavorable prognosis, especially in women with serous, poorly differentiated, and late-stage ovarian carcinoma. High expression levels of TGF-2 were related to worse progression-free survival (PFS) while TGF-3 was linked to unfavorable overall survival (OS) and PFS in women with TP53-mutated ovarian cancer. TGF-2 was associated with poor OS and PFS from treatment with chemotherapy with platins, Taxol, or a platin+Taxol. However, overexpression of TGF-3 was associated with poor OS from the use of platins and poor PFS of Taxol or a platin+Taxol in women with ovarian carcinoma. Furthermore, the expression of TGF-2 mRNA and protein was higher but only TGF-3 mRNA expression was higher in cancerous tissues than in normal ovarian samples.

CONCLUSION

Higher expression of TGF-2 functioned as a significant predictor of poor prognosis in women with ovarian cancer, especially those with TP53 mutations or who were undergoing chemotherapy with platins, Taxol, or a platin+Taxol.